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Multinationals' priorities may distort ISO standards in Chinese subsidiaries
Author(s) -
Anglès Valérie
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
global business and organizational excellence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.227
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1932-2062
pISSN - 1932-2054
DOI - 10.1002/joe.21433
Subject(s) - subsidiary , multinational corporation , business , misrepresentation , normative , context (archaeology) , certification , typology , china , management , economics , sociology , law , political science , paleontology , finance , anthropology , biology
Standardized systems of management are looked to as universal references for business practitioners. Yet, studies of the ISO 9000 management system in China have shown that it is often not internalized or becomes distorted in the subsidiaries of multinational enterprises. Based on 36 interviews from 20 European subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, and three interviews with representatives of the main European certification bodies, this article highlights some of the underlying causes of the apparent misrepresentation of ISO 9000. It presents a typology of ISO 9000 adoption and distortion based on the social and organizational institutional context, showing the cognitive, normative, and regulative aspects, as well as the influence of learning priorities and organizational logic. The results reveal that the mistaken perception that ISO 9000 is a product guarantee is not only widespread in China, but even affects the way in which laws are formulated there. They also show that a multinational's own organizational priorities and logic can play a key role in this phenomenon. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.